Nominations for 13 constituencies going to polls in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections commenced from Monday with the Election Commission issuing a notification in this regard.

This phase includes the VIP constituencies of Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting the election, Gorakhpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli and Mirzapur. 

Polling in the seventh phase will be held on May 19. 

With the issuance of notification for the seventh phase, polling process in all 80 Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh has been carried out. Polling has been completed for the first two phases and for the third phase it will be held on Tuesday.

The nomination process for the fourth phase has been completed and for the fifth phase ended on Monday.  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to file his nomination papers from Varanasi on April 26, while Union minister Manoj Sinha will file his papers on April 25.

As per Election Commission poll schedule, nominations for the seventh phase will continue till April 29 and scrutiny of papers will be done the next day. Candidates can withdraw the candidature on May 2.

The constituencies going to polls in the final phase are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Varanasi), the fate of Union ministers Manoj Sinha (Ghazipur), Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (Sonelal) (Mirzapur), BJP state chief Mahendra Nath Pandey (Chandauli), Bhojpuri actor and BJP candidate Ravi Kishan (Gorakhpur) will be decided in this phase.

In the seventh phase of polls, 2.32 crore voters, including 1.26 crore males, 1.06 crore females and 1,416 of the third gender, are eligible to cast their votes in 13,979 booths. 

The counting of votes for all 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP will be taken up on May 23.